Monday, July 31, 2006

al-Ahram Weekly, 700,000 displaced, 27 July 2006

BBC News, Press sorrow and anger over Qana, 31 July 2006 "There is worldwide press condemnation of the Israeli bombing of Qana, with one Lebanese daily writing that the village witnessed the opening of the gates of hell."

dw-world.de, Mosque on Wheels Takes Islam to the German Streets, 30 July 2006, "A stage had been built on top of the trailer. A cupola and two minarets soared above the roof. Pillars and arches decorated the sides. Alongside was written "Islamobil," a word made up from the German words for Islam and automobile.

"The Islamobil is a sort of travelling mosque, one that aims to inform Germans about Islam. A group of young Muslims from the small city of Brühl near Cologne came up with the idea in 2001 and will travel around Germany with it this summer."

tradearabia.com, Awalnet launches drive to help Lebanon, 31 July 2006 "Under this initiative, AwalNet will donate 3 per cent of its EasyNet Service income during the period from July 29 to August 4 to the Lebanese cause."

thestar.com.my, Zam: Controls will enhance Internet media's credibility, July 31, 2006 Statement fom Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin: "He said some websites and blogs had touched on Islam and Malay rights, which threatened harmony in multi- racial Malaysia.

"If left uncontrolled, the medium could be used as a tool to disturb the peace and stability in the country."

Newsfactor Magazine, The Man Who Put Al-Qaeda on the Web, 29 July 2006 extensive article on 'Irhabi007'

AKI, al-Qaeda launches web TV, 28 July 2006, "The new channel - called al-Firdaws TV - aims to publish the most important video and audio documents in the recent history of the terror network."

uruknet.info, Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Saturday, 29 July 2006 "Information from occupied Iraq"

Friday, July 28, 2006

American Muslim, Hudna: Those Who Live by the Sword Shall Die by It, "Ayatollah Saanei yesterday was quoted around the internet world also as making the point that gender has nothing to do with who may lead the salah." Article by Robert Crane.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

This just cropped up on al-Jazeera: CNN, Al Qaeda: War with Israel is 'jihad', 27 July 2006, "Al Qaeda's media production wing, Al-Sahab, announced the al-Zawahiri tape would be ready soon in a message Thursday on and Islamic Web site."

Reuters/The Star, Witness - Walls and veils hide Saudi women from the world, 27 July 2006

AFP/Khaleej Times, Al Qaeda organised deadly attack on US consulate: suspect, 26 July 2006 "An Uzbek national arrested in Pakistan has told interrogators that Al-Qaeda organised this year’s deadly suicide attack on the US consulate in Karachi, a security official said Wednesday."

ABC Victoria, Terrorism accused made Al Qaeda propaganda film, court told, 24 July 2006 "Commonwealth prosecutor Mark Dean SC has told the court Ayhmed Joud, 21, and Shane Kent, 29, made a jihad film with messages from Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi." Includes links to video clips associated with the trial.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

washingtonpost.com, How to Watch the War on the Web useful listing relating to the present crisis on the Lebanon-Israel border (and beyond), including urls for LinkTV - Mosaic +. In this connection, also see ABC News, The War on the Web, 26 July 2006. There's also the short piece in Wired, Blogging From the Belly of Beirut, 21 July 2006. I am writing about this issue for my next book. Looks like there will have to be another chapter ...

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

If you are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to escape the headlines for a while, here is an interesting diversion: arabnews.com Splendid Islamic Art Treasures Are Just a Mouse Click Away, 25 July 2006. This refers to the V&A London's new Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art, which can be accessed online. It includes an interactive map. This gallery has links with the Museum with No Frontiers, whose work I have discussed elsewhere on these pages.

Islam Online, IOL Trains Arab Science Journalists "IslamOnline.net will be playing a major role in training science journalists in the Middle East as part of a two-year mentoring program organized by the World Federation of Science Journalists."

Whilst at Islam Online, I also saw this question (sent from South Korea): Is there any rule of beheading in Qur'an? Is that a teaching which can justify beheading of foreign civilians? Read the response from Jasser Auda (director of al-Maqasid Research Centre in the Philosophy of the Islamic Law) in Ask about Islam.

A couple of extremely relevant articles by Lawrence Pintak: commondreams.org, Lebanon: Black & White and Dead All Over, 23 July 2006 and CJR Daily. The Fog of Cable, 21 July 2006

Reuters, Bangladesh's GP launches online marketplace, 25 July 2006, "Bangladesh's top mobile phone operator GrameenPhone Ltd., majority-owned by Norway's Telenor, and USA-based CellBazaar have introduced a service connecting buyers and sellers in an electronic marketplace over the mobile phone."

ashaq alawsat, Q & A with Robert Fisk, 25 July 2006 Robert Fisk talks on a wide range of subjects, including the internet: "I think the internet steals the journalist’s time and deprives him of working with people and books that give clear information that is easily archived. Many times, they call me from the newspaper’s library to ask me about information that might be available in my archive. The internet lacks this precision and the person searching can be submerged with detrimental information that might result in mistakes. This is why I tell those gathering information about me in the internet: it’s not me. This is an internet man who bears no relation to the real me. Instead of searching the internet for information or references, I prefer to go to the field and speak to people and obtain my information from them."

Fisk's recent articles on the Lebanon crisis can be found on The Independent's website, but require subscription to access.

Jerusalem Post, Bint Jbeil Web site still going strong, 25 July 2006, "The southern Lebanese village of Bint Jbeil may be crippled by the current strife, but its Web site - complete with message board and guestbook - is still accessible." Site is available here. Just checked on Whois - the site is registered in Dearborn, MI, USA

I enjoyed reading this in the Independent yesterday (again, payment required to read online - although you could probably hunt it down). Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Hounded by assaults from cyberspace, 24 July 2006. She makes some pertinent comments about the quality of blogs.

Monday, July 24, 2006

Guardian, Iraq uploaded, 24 July 2006 "There are more than 5,000 video clips with footage from Iraq on YouTube, and a significant proportion feature US troops speaking candidly about their experiences." Refers to Time, YouTube Wars

Also just saw Guardian, Watching, blogging ... bombing, 18 July 2006 which I missed first time around.
Systems-restore time on this blog, as I slowly catch up with a couple of weeks' (in-)activities in an enforced break from the blog. Before I proceed, a commercial break. Pluto Press are currently selling my book Islam in the Digital Age at a cut-price rate until the end of August: £5.00/$9.25/€7.50.

moneycontrol.com, Blogs bring news from Lebanon, July 24th 2006, "Lebanese and Israeli civilians caught in the crossfire are now using the Internet to talk about their experiences, fears and apprehensions via blogs. The ongoing violence in Lebanon between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah guerillas which has killed more than 350 civilians in the last 11 days has become a major topic of discussion among online journalists, victims and concerned citizens. The Internet is now being used as a tool for communication between the war torn countries about everything from conditions in the shelters for refugees, to a forum for voicing innocent people’s angst against the violence."

itnews.com.au, Bloggers worldwide blast India's ban, 24 July 2006 "India banned thousands of blogs last week while trying to block 17 blogs and Web sites that India's telecommunications department claimed spread religious hatred. After a government order issued July 13, Internet service providers cut off access to domain names instead of targeting specific sites. The order came after bombings that killed at least 182 people on Mumbai's commuter trains on July 11." Also see NYT/IHT, India admits 'technological error' in blog blockade, 20 July 2006

NYT/IHT, Jihadists split on Islam's true enemy, 21 July 2006 "The question has popped up all over Internet sites frequented by Islamic militants: Should your average God-fearing jihadist support Hezbollah in its battle against the Zionist aggressors and their American lapdogs?"

GG2.net, US indicts two on terror charges, 20 July 2006 "Authorities said the two, one born in 1984 and the other in 1986, did not pose imminent threats, but still tried to evade authorities through encrypted Internet messages and by lying about their activities to federal agents."

This theme has been previously blogged on these pages: Middle East Online, Misyar opens happiness door to Saudis, 20 July 2006, "[But] Saudi television presenter Rima al-Shamikh said misyar is the result of frustration among Saudi Arabia's largely youthful population, bound by a strict religious code but exposed to Western lifestyles through the media and Internet.

""Our young people watch the satellite television channels. There is dissatisfaction," she explained. "Misyar is a way of getting around the obstacles of marriage in Gulf societies.""

Newsbusters, Washington Post Perpetuates the Myth of Retribution, July 16, 2006 discussion/allegations etc. with ref. to albasrah.net

NYT/taipeitimes.com, `Shamed' girls told to kill themselves in rural Turkey, July 17 2006 "Young women like Derya, who have previously led protected lives under the rigid moral strictures of their families and Islam, are suddenly finding themselves in the modern Turkey of Internet dating and MTV. The shift can create dangerous tensions, sometimes lethal ones, between their families and the secular values of the republic."

IFEX, Website editor arrested, held in prison, for re-publishing Prophet cartoons, 20 July 2006 "AJI is calling for an international appeal to respond to the detention of Teguh Santosa, chief editor of "Rakyat Merdeka Online" (RMOL), on 19 July 2006, at 6:00 p.m. (local time). He is being held at Cipinang Prison in Jakarta."

WDEF, Quran Vandalism Prompts Shock from Local Muslims, 11 July 2006, "Federal officials say they're looking into whether an on-line video posted by a Chattanooga man involves a hate crime.

""The video, called "kill the koran," was posted last month on myspace.com, an on-line community."





Friday, July 21, 2006

Regular readers will have noted that - despite all the things going on in the world relating directly to Islam, Muslims and the net - there has been an unscheduled pause in this blog. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. GRB

Monday, July 03, 2006

zeenews.com, Britain eavesdropping on 8,000 Qaeda `sympathizers`: Report, 3 July 2006 "Britain`s internal intelligence agency M15 is conducting investigations on almost 8,000 suspected Al-Qaeda sympathisers, a report said today."

onenews.nz, Al Qaeda internet warning over Somalia, 2 July 2006 "The 19-minute recording called on all Somalis to back the Council of Islamic Courts movement in its bid to build an Islamic state in Somalia.

""We will fight [US] soldiers on the land of Somalia ... and we reserve the right to punish it on its land and anywhere possible," the speaker says.

"We warn all of the countries in the world not to respond to America by sending international troops to Somalia."

The above tape elicited the following reaction (Gulf Times, Somalis cool to bin Laden tape, 3 July 2006)_: ""The comments made by Osama bin Laden are like any other statement made by politicians or any other person who is expressing his views on the change of political landscape in Somalia," said Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the former leader of the Islamic courts."

Daily Mail, Muslim cleric who condoned suicide bombers to speak on eve of 7/7 anniversary, 3 July 2006 "Palestinian-born Azzam Tamimi, 51, will be one of the main speakers at IslamExpo, which starts the day before the first anniversary of the July 7 suicide attacks on the capital."